The following abbreviations are defined as follows:
    AID application identity    CSIM CDMA subscriber identity module    EF elementary file    EFDIR elementary file directory (EFDIR)    ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute    GBA generic bootstrapping architecture (e.g., 3GPP TS 33.220)    ISIM IP multimedia services identity module    MNO mobile network operator    MTM mobile trusted module    NFC near field communication    SCP smart card platform    SIM subscriber identity module    USIM universal subscriber identity module
Reference can be made to 3GPP TS 31.102 VI0.2.0 (2011-06) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; Characteristics of the Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) application (Release 10).
3G cards are UICC cards and store a SIM/USIM application. Previous 2G cards are referred to simply as SIM cards. A conventional UICC card or SIM card is issued by an operator and is used with one radio instance. As such, no problem is presented for the operator or some requestor to locate a needed application on the card. However, this scenario changes when there is, for example, an eUICC present in a terminal that stores applications from multiple operators and/or there are different security modules in the same terminal that hold the same application. In this case it can occur, for example, that the USIM application of a first operator and the C-SIM of a potential second operator have two different radio modules simultaneously active.
Such a scenario may also allow operators to upgrade their networks gradually, since with such a technology old and new network types could be supported simultaneously and the user would always have connectivity.
Reference can be made to, for example, 3GPP TS 33.220 V10.0.0 (2010-10) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Generic Authentication Architecture (GAA); Generic Bootstrapping Architecture (GBA) (Release 10), section 4.4.8 “Requirements on selection of UICC application and related keys” and to Annex D (informative): “Dialog example for user selection of UICC application used in GBA”.
In section 4.4.8, under 1(c), it is stated that if no preference was given and there is more than one active UICC application, the GBA function may show a UICC application choosing dialogue to the end user (the list contains the “Labels” from the application list of all active UICC applications), from which the end user chooses the UICC application to be selected. If no dialogue is shown the GBA function shall select the active USIM application, if an active USIM application exists, otherwise any active ISIM application. If no preference was given and there is only one active UICC application, then the GBA function selects this active UICC application;
Under portion 1(d) it is stated that if no “Label” was indicated in step (a) and if there are no UICC applications active, or if there is no UICC application of the preferred UICC application type active:                if there is only one UICC application on the UICC, the GBA function selects it, if possible;        if there is more than one UICC application on the UICC, the GBA function may show a UICC application choosing dialogue to the end user (the list contains the “Labels” from the application list of the UICC), from which the end user chooses the UICC application to be selected. If a preferred UICC application type was indicated and there are UICC applications of this type on the UICC, then the list shown contains only UICC applications of this type, otherwise the list contains all UICC applications on the UICC. If no dialogue is shown the GBA function shall select the “last selected” UICC application of the preferred type (i.e. either the “last selected” USIM or the “last selected” ISIM depending on the given preference), if possible. In case the Ua application indicated “no preference” and both USIM and ISIM are present on the UICC, then the “last selected” USIM is selected.        
3GPP TS 33.220, section 4.4.8, references 3GPP TS 31.101 V10.0.1 (2011-06) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; UICC-terminal interface; Physical and logical characteristics (Release 10). Section 13 of 3GPP TS 31.101 13, “Application independent files” states that there are four EFs at the Master File (MF) level specified in ETSI TS 102 221 clause 13 (EFICCID; EFDIR, EFPL and EFARR), which are all mandatory for 3GPP. The EFDIR file contains the Application Identifiers (AIDS) and the Application Labels of the 3GPP applications present on the card as mandatory elements. The AIDs of 3GPP applications are defined in ETSI TS 101 220. The 3GPP applications can only be selected by means of the AID selection. The EFDIR entry is specified as not containing a path object for application selection, and it is recommended that the application label does not contain more than 32 bytes.
Reference can also be made to ETSI TC SCP REQ ad hoc #113, London, GB, 27-28 April 2011, Tdoc SCPREQ (11)0043, Change Request 102 412 CR, Title “Addition of requirements for the eUICC and its remote management”. Reference can also be made to ETSI TC SCP REQ #30, REQ (11) 0059, Caserta, IT, 09-11 May 2011, Title: “eUICC Ecosystem Credentials”. Reference can also be made to the ISO/IEC 7816-4 specification that contains, in part, an EFDIR where a label can be placed. However, the label is not editable by the user. Reference can also be made to the use of dual SIM terminals, e.g., WO 2006/114244 and US 2007/0184858 A1.